ELA7+Courage

toc =Topic= This unit delves more deeply into character analysis, focusing on determined and courageous people in both informational texts and literature. Students read, study, and discuss the dramatic and/or autobiographical versions of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Students read other texts to explore how courage is projected through these works. Students see how and where these stories fit within informational texts on World War II. They also compare the ways in which Frank's diary is similar to and different from the play version of her story. Students focus their reading on in-depth analyses of interactions among individuals, events, and ideas in a variety of texts, comparing the ways in which different authors shape similar stories.
 * Courage and Determination **

=Common Core Standards= Students will:
 * RL1:** Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
 * RL2:** Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text.
 * RL4:** Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings.
 * RL6:** Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points-of-view of different characters or narrators in a text; (a) analyze stories, drama, or poems by authors who represent diverse world cultures.
 * RL7:** Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium.
 * RL11:** Recognize, interpret, and make connections in narratives, poetry, and drama, ethically and artistically to other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events, and situations.
 * RI1:** Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
 * RI3:** Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text.
 * RI4:** Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
 * RI7:** Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia version of the text, analyzing each medium's portrayal of the subject.
 * W1:** Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
 * W2:** Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
 * W3:** Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
 * W4:** Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
 * W7:** Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.
 * W10:** Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline specific tasks, purposes and audiences.
 * S&L1:** Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues.
 * S&L4:** Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
 * LANG1:** Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
 * LANG2:** Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
 * LANG3:** Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
 * LANG4:** Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words and phrases based on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
 * LANG5:** Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
 * LANG6:** Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

=Suggested Student Objectives=
 * SWBAT:**
 * Analyze courage and heroism as concepts: create working definitions for both;
 * Read and discuss fictional and informational texts about people, real and fictional, who face conflict;
 * Explain how knowing the historical context of a story may enhance understanding of a story;
 * Analyze two or more accounts of the same event and describe important similarities and differences in the details they provide;
 * Research an aspect of the Holocaust and how courage was reflected by people experiencing it;
 * Explain how an author's style can help convey the theme of their stories, poems, or speeches;
 * Compare and contrast //Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl// to dramatic interpretations for stage and screen.

= Terminology/ Academic Vocabulary =

=Required Readings= The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hacket, Drama (Glencoe) Six Million Paper Clips: Chapter Two, Peter W. Schroeder and Dagmar Schroder-Hildebrand, Informational Text A History of US, War Peace and All That Jazz: Chapters 27 and 34, Joy Hakim, Informational Text A Soldier's Letter Home from WWII, (Texts and Lessons)

Although novels are listed as suggested readings, students should be assigned a novel based upon their reading level. Novels should be read independently, outside of class. Students should carry the novel back and forth to class. Novels should be used during class discussions and activities to assist students in meeting the unit's objectives. It is imperative that students be assigned a novel that is at their independent level. AG = Above Grade Level, G = Grade Level, BG = Below Grade Level. Novels can be substituted based upon resources and teacher discretion.

=Suggested Additional Readings= Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank, Autobiography (AG/H) Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Eleanor Coerr, Biography (BG) The Summer of My German Soldier, Bette Green, Novel (G) Short Scenes and Monologues for Middle School Students, Mary Hall Surface, Drama The Power of the Powerless: A Brother's Lesson, Christopher de Vinck, Memoir The Home Front: 1941-1945, Hazel Shelton Abernethy, Memoir Strong Men Weep, Benedict Cosgrove, Essay (Glencoe) All Aboard the Underground Railroad, Spencer R. Crew, Article (Toolkit Texts) The Devil's Arithmetic, Jane Yolen, Novel (BG) Number the Stars, Lois Lowry, Novel (G) Heroes, Erma Bombeck, Essay (Glencoe) Beware of the Dog, Roald Dahl, Short Story (Glencoe) To An Athlete Dying Young, A.E. Housman, Poem (Springboard) First They Came for the Socialists, Pastor Neimoller, Poem Terrible Things, Eve Bunting, Allegory Billy Don't Be a Hero, Mitch Murray and Peter Callendar, Song Lyrics The Bracelet, Yoshiko Uchida, Short Story Elegy for Anne Frank, Jessica Smith, Poem

=Resource Links= United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Anne Frank Museum: Amsterdam, The Secret Annex Online, Anne Frank Timeline, People in the Attic and Their Helpers

Investigating the Holocaust: A Collaborative Inquiry Project, Read/Write/Think

Brain Pop: Anne Frank





Paper Clips, Elliot Berlin and Joe Fab/Directors, Documentary (DVD) The Diary of Anne Frank, George Stevens/Director, (DVD)
 * Art and Media**

=Activities= Contextual and academic (connotation, denotation, dialogue, documentary, point-of-view, irony, tragedy, tyranny, genocide, propaganda, internment). Analyze Greek and Latin origins where applicable.
 * Vocabulary**

Continue to practice the correct use of quotation marks, specifically as they pertain to dialogue. Mini-lessons on simplifying sentences and correcting misplaced or dangling modifiers.
 * Grammar and Mechanics**

Investigate the concepts of courage and heroism: construct working definitions. Reflect on their relationship to one another.
 * Class Discussion**

Compare texts read to the play, The Diary of Anne Frank. Take notes about how the characters' experiences are similar to and different from Anne Frank's. Be sure to note page numbers with relevant information so you can cite the text during class discussions. Consider the following: Where id the character live? What was that character's context; i.e. what was happening in the world? What was a typical day like for the person? How is the character's experience similar to Anne Frank's? How is the character's experience different from Anne Frank's? What are some the author's characterization techniques?
 * Note Taking on Characterization**

Many rights were taken away from the Jewish people during the Holocaust. Choose one of these rights to research in detail, following the research process through to the presentation of findings. Write a note card about how the right was taken away including the date. As a class, create a bulletin board of the note cards to share what you have learned with each other. Discuss how people reacted with both perseverance and courage as their rights were taken from them.
 * Research**

Analyze the similarities and differences between how characters in a text you have read and how characters in the drama, The Diary of Anne Frank, show courage in the face of conflict. Create a t-chart for the examples of courage displayed by the characters from the two texts.
 * Class Discussion and Graphic Organizer**

Consider different accounts of WWII that you have read. Identify and distinguish between the facts of the characters' experiences and their opinions about them. Write about how different people were affected by the same event and how they responded. Proofread, revise, and edit your writing.
 * Informative/Explanatory Writing**

Read and reflect on a monologue about someone's experience with conflict -- interpersonal, intrapersonal, with society, or another type of conflict. Memorize the monologue and present it in class.
 * Dramatization/Fluency**

The people who were sent to camps during WWII (either concentration camps in Europe or internment camps in the United States) could bring very few possessions with them. Generally, they were able to bring only as much as they could carry. Think about what is most important to you and then write about what things you would bring if you could only take as much as would fit in a small suitcase.
 * Class Discussion and Writing (Narrative/Personal Reflection)**

Create an illustration of one of the spaces in the secret annex. Then visit the Anne Frank Museum site and explore the online tour of the actual annex. Write about your reaction to the three-dimensional model of the annex. How is it the same or different from what you imagined it to be?
 * Visual Interpretation and Writing**

Compare and contrast the written and film interpretations of Anne Frank's experiences as described in her diary. What parts of the film are true to the play, The Diary of Anne Frank? What changes were made? Why do you think the filmmakers made the changes they did?
 * Media Appreciation**

Compare and contrast the relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps by the U.S. government to the Nazis' treatment of the Jews in Europe. Use information and details from the texts you have read to support your ideas, and information gathered by the class for the research on the rights lost by Jews. Write a speech that you will present to the class. Practice your delivery (appropriate eye contact, inflection, volume, pronunciation, etc.)
 * Class Discussion and Writing (Argument)**

=Assessments= Reflecting on the texts read and discussed in class, as well as on other texts you have read, write an essay in response to the essential question: How can reading about the courage of real people inform our understanding of courageous literary characters? Compare and contrast the characters from The Diary of Anne Frank to characters from other texts you have read. Cite specific details from the texts to support your ideas.
 * Informative/Explanatory Writing**

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